Central Powers

On July 28, 1914, one coalition of nations declared war on another group of nations. Fighting eventually spread across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The First World War, the Great War, wreaked destruction and death, creating millions of refugees. The war changed the world forever.

The core countries of the Central Powers included Germany and Austria-Hungary, later joined by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and Bulgaria. The name comes from the central European location of Germany and Austria-Hungary. They lost the Great War, surrendering to the Allied Forces from Great Britain, Canada, Newfoundland, Russia, France, Italy, and the United States. The Central Powers declared war, fearing the czar of Russia harbored expansion desires on Eastern and Central Europe and mobilized Russian armed forces to capture these lands.

Brief History and Background

World War I began following a breakdown in diplomacy. Russia failed to convince the Central Powers it had no intention of invading despite mobilizing its armed forces. Germany mobilized its military forces promising to defend Austria-Hungary, thus creating the core of the Central Powers. On August 1, 1914, Germany informed Russia a state of war existed. France allied with Russia mobilizing its military forces the same day, forming the beginning of the Allied Forces. Two days later, the Central Powers declared war on Russia and France. German troops rolled through Belgium as a shortcut to the French border. Great Britain joined the Allies because Great Britain was responsible for Belgium’s neutrality under the 1839 Treaty of London. Countries went to war like a strand of dominos falling—initially over a lack of trust. Italy declared war on the Central Powers, and the United States, persuaded by Britain, joined the Allies on April 6, 1917.

The Ottoman Empire came to the defense of the Central Powers because Germany and the Ottoman Empire had built strong economic ties during many previous years. They were building the Berlin-to-Baghdad railway, for example. The empire allowed Germany to harbor a naval squadron at its docks in exchange for the Central Powers providing military equipment and munitions. The empire’s soldiers were experienced; they maintained a huge standing army, were ruthless and fearsome, and the empire controlled a vast land mass and ports across the Middle East and deep into Eastern Europe. No love was lost between Turkey and Russia. Between 1568 and World War I, they fought eleven wars with one another.

Some colonized states joined the Central Powers and others the Allied Powers. They hoped either to expel colonialist rule and establish their own nations or curry favor with their colonial rulers. Allied Forces captured many German colonies including Cameroon. Britain colonized South Africa, so Germany supported rebels trying to oust the British, but the efforts failed. Forces of the Central Powers were beaten, and the coalition collapsed. An armistice was signed November 11, 1918, in a railroad car.

Impact

World War I ended with the breakup of the Central Powers and their economies in shambles. Colonies that once sustained their economies were lost and treasuries depleted. The Central Powers were laden with debt and were forced to reimburse Allied Forces for their costs of the war. The financial drain caused massive unemployment, rampant inflation, delayed reconstruction, and exacerbated smoldering hatred of the Allies. By 1933, the core nations of the Central Powers were uniting again with Germany and Austria-Hungary, pledging allegiance to Adolph Hitler. The groundwork was laid for World War II.

Thirty-two countries sent representatives to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 where terms were dictated to the nations of the Central Powers. The League of Nations, a forerunner to the United Nations, was founded as a result of the Paris Conference. Its mission was to preserve world peace, disarming nations and preventing wars by ensuring collective security, and settling disputes through negotiation and arbitration. The League of Nations failed to prevent a Second World War but was permanently reorganized into the United Nations following World War II.

The defeat of the Central Powers paved the way for the end of four empires and colonialism. Nationalism, self-determination, and the desire for independent nation-states swept across the world. The German, Russian, Ottoman, and Austro-Hungarian empires all collapsed. The Ottoman Empire collapsed when Arab nationalists rose up against it. The Communist Party replaced the czar ruling Russia, eventually creating its own empire and ruling class out of bits from the old Central Powers and Ottoman Empire in what would become the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or Soviet Union.

The Ottoman Empire became the Turkish Republic. Great Britain reformed into the United Kingdom, and Germany became a parliamentary republic. Germany was also forced under the Treaty of Versailles (June 28, 1919) to relinquish land captured from Poland, the city of Danzig, and Alsace and Lorraine. The United States established itself as a world power with a forceful military. It budgeted foreign aid for rebuilding nations devastated by war and caring for millions of war refugees. The United States turned isolationist, not wanting any more foreign entanglements or spending its treasury on foreign nationals. The Japanese attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, thinking that the isolationist position would keep the United States from joining Allied Forces fighting the Nazis in World War II. But they miscalculated.

Other impacts of the war included new rules of engagement in the event that war breaks out. Prisoners must be treated humanely, fed, clothed, given shelter, and medical care. Poison gas or mustard gas cannot be used in future wars. Bombs from aircraft cannot be dropped on civilian population centers. Women entered the workplace in great numbers because so many men were away fighting. This gave impetus to women’s rights. Pacifism rose in popularity because the war was devastating. The collapse of colonialism triggered an anti-capitalism movement, spurring the rise of socialism and communism representing the new brotherhood of man.

The treaty terms imposed on the former Central Powers, particularly Germany, were politically and financially oppressive. The Allies left the Central Powers vanquished, seething with resentment. Marshal Foch of France warned that the treaty does not bring peace. He forewarned the Allies, "It is an armistice for twenty years." Twenty years later, World War II started.

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